Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, a conventional electrical connector which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Showa 50-95790 is shown. The electrical connector includes a female connector half 71 (a receiving connector half), which is fixed to a vehicle body or similar, and a male connector half 72 (a feeding connector half), which is attached to feeding equipment.
In FIG. 15, the connecting of the female connector half 71 to the male connector half 72 to form the electrical connector is shown. A hood 75 of the female connector half 71 is inserted into a gap between a housing main body 73 of the male connector half 72. Furthermore, a stud 76 on an inner wall of the coupling nut 74 of the male connector half 72 is forced to proceed into a spiral channel 77 of the female connector half 71 while rotating the coupling nut 74 to connect the male connector half 72 to the female connector half 71. That is, the conventional electrical connector adopts a so-called bayonet-lock method. A concave portion 77a is formed at an end of the spiral channel 77 of the female connector half 71 and the stud 76 of the male connector half 72 is engaged with the concave portion 77a to form a complete connection between the female connector half 71 and the male connector half 72.
Referring to FIG. 16, reference numeral 78 represents male terminals, reference numeral 79 represents female terminals, reference numeral 80 represents a spring, and reference numeral 81 represents a gasket. The spring 80 urges the housing main body 73 to the female connector half 71.
With the conventional bayonet-locking type electrical connector, there is the possibility that when the female and male connector halves 71 and 72 are engaged with each other the rotation of the coupling nut 74 may be stopped before complete locking of the connector halves 71 and 72. Further, it is difficult to check at a glance whether the locking is complete or not. The coupling nut 74 needs to be rotated until completely fastened. This causes the work to be worrisome and a worker's hands will ache from the work. Further, in a multi-pole connector with an increased number of terminals accommodated in the female and male connector halves 71 and 72, a considerably large force is required to connect the connector halves 71 and 72 to each other. Thus, it is difficult for a conventional bayonet-locking type connector to carry out the locking operation with a reduced insertion force as is desirable.
The present invention has been accomplished to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional bayonet-locking type electrical connector described above. The object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector for charging an automobile which requires a reduced insertion force in order to connect the fee:ling connector half to the receiving connector half and in which: the incomplete locking of the connector halves is securely prevented; the operational efficiency of the locking is improved; and the connection and disconnection between the connector halves is carried out with an one-touch operation.